Together Forever, No Matter How Long
by TheViolaBuddy
Summary: The Pokémon Trainer arrives at the Smash Brothers Registration Building, and watches as his each of his Pokémon separates from him to go register for the battles.


**Together Forever, No Matter How Long**

_The title is taken from the Pokémon song "Together Forever."_

* * *

I grabbed two Pokéballs off of my belt and threw them forwards. In a flash of red light, the two Pokéballs returned safely to my hands, while two small Pokémon materialized from them on the sidewalk in front of me. One was an yellow mammalian creature, with pointy ears with black tips, red cheeks that sparked with electricity, and tail shaped like a lightning bolt, characteristics that marked the Pokémon as a Pikachu. The other Pokémon was roughly a cute pink sphere, with a spiral-shaped tuft of hair above two big, innocent eyes—my Jigglypuff.

"Well, Pikachu and Jigglypuff, we're here," I said in sign language, as I preferred to do with my Pokémon when I could. "The building right there is the Smash Brothers Registration Building. You two said that you wanted to participate in the battles there?"

The two small Pokémon looked at each other excitedly before nodding to me. I smiled, hiding the gut-wrenching sadness I felt. I had spent so long with them on my journey, and yet they were so eager to leave me?

"Well, good luck, you two. I'll be here on this side, with the other non-fighters. Goodbye!"

Pikachu and Jigglypuff turned towards each other and squeaked in excitement. They were on their own, now, in this Smash Brothers World. There would no longer be a trainer to guide them along, to provide food and shelter for them, to be their friend. I was not a fighter myself, and could not participate in the battles that would take place in this world.

Pikachu and Jigglypuff started to walk towards the building. When they reached the door, they turned back and waved to me. I waved back, careful not to show my disappointment.

They entered the building, and the door shut behind them.

I closed my eyes. I didn't realize that I was crying until the teardrops started to fall off my cheeks. Pikachu and Jigglypuff—they were the two first Pokémon that I had caught on my journey through the Kanto Region. I had caught Pikachu in the Viridian Forest, after saving him from a group of Beedrill whose nest he had disturbed. Jigglypuff had joined my team a little later, just east of Pewter City. She had accidentally made me fall asleep with her singing just outside Mt. Moon, and she insisted on following me when I woke up.

It wasn't as though I would never see them again, though. Once the battles were over, they would come back to me—and I would be able to attend their matches, too. But I couldn't help but feel sad that these two little Pokémon whom I'd raised for almost my entire career as a Pokémon trainer were going to leave me for such a long time. Would they be all right, alone? Would they have fun? Would Master Hand treat them well?

Would they forget their trainer?

A voice rang out in my head, breaking me from my train of thought.

"Master."

I opened my eyes immediately and wiped them clear of the tears. In front of me was a blue jackal-like Pokémon, a Lucario. _My_ Lucario. He must have escaped from his Pokéball while I was distracted.

"You're sad. You're worried about those two," he said unequivocally. He was the only one of my Pokémon who could speak in a human language, though I still talked to him in sign language.

I nodded silently at his comments. I didn't bother to protest; Lucario could sense my aura. Aura-sensing wasn't quite the same as mind-reading, but it could detect emotions quite reliably. I'd given up a long time ago trying to hide my feelings from him. In fact, Lucario was my confidant in my problems in life and my worries about training, especially since he was also the most mature of my six Pokémon.

"Do… do you want me to go look after them?" he asked me hesitantly.

I stared at him blankly.

"I mean, if you're worried about their safety, I can look after them in your place. You can't watch them except during the battles, since you're not a fighter, but I can register as one and can keep you updated about how they're doing. I can communicate with you through the power of aura, can I not?"

I blinked at him. Another one of my Pokémon was going to abandon me? I quickly dispelled the thought from my mind. Lucario wasn't trying to leave me; he was just trying to help me feel better. After all, Pikachu and Jigglypuff would indeed be safer with another Pokémon.

"Master? Are you all right?" Lucario asked me. "You look… even more depressed. Frightened, even. Did I offend you?"

I shook my head. "No, it's fine," I signed. "But I think you'll have fun over there with Jigglypuff and Pikachu. Why don't you head in and sign up?"

The Aura Pokémon frowned skeptically. "You're upset, Master. At me, probably. You think I don't like you and I'm trying to distance myself from you."

I sighed. "Logically speaking, I know you're not trying to abandon me, But just…" I give a frustrated groan. "Don't mind me. It's just me and my self-confidence issues. I am your 'master,' as you call me, but that doesn't mean you're my slave. It's only normal that you, or Pikachu, or Jigglypuff might want to have this time to be independent."

Lucario approached me and took my hand in his paws. "Master, I'm not going to leave you in this state."

"Just go!" I said aloud. Quickly reverting to sign language, I continued, "Go keep Pikachu and Jigglypuff company, and report back to me if you'd like, and don't if you don't want to!"

I turned around and walked along the road with my head down. Behind me, I heard Lucario call to me worriedly, but in the end, I heard his light footsteps turning into the Registration Building.

Once Lucario was inside, however, I stopped in the middle of the road as a realization struck me. I still had three Pokémon with me. I would be selfish if I kept them. Maybe they wanted to participate in this battle, as well. If I kept them with me, just because I wanted company, that would be unfair to them and reflect badly on me.

Sighing, I plucked the remaining Pokéballs from my belt and called out my last three Pokémon. The dragon-like Pokémon, Charizard, the hybrid flower/dinosaur Pokémon Ivysaur, and the small tortoise, Squirtle.

"Hi, guys," I signed to them.

They all made some response, but Ivysaur looked up at my face. "Is something the matter?" it asked me in the Pokémon language, a combination of a sign language and vocal cues.

"You know that Jigglypuff and Pikachu are off to fight in these Smash Brothers battles, right? Well, Lucario joined them, to keep an eye on them. But what about you? Do you want…?" I trailed off. I had been about to ask them if they wanted to join the battles, as well, but they would probably answer 'no' just to make me feel better. Instead, I rephrased myself: "I think you three would have more fun if you also joined them. I'm not going to be doing much over the next few weeks while the battles are going on, since I'm missing half the team anyway. Besides, I don't think it'd be fair to rob you of the fun times you'd have in the battle area."

The three of the Pokémon looked at me confusedly. "Um… what about you?" Ivysaur finally asked. "Are you going to do nothing?"

"I can't join you," I said. "I don't fight."

Charizard scoffed. "Yeah, right. I still remember your first day of being a trainer, when I was still a Charmander. When I fainted, you must've knocked out a few dozen Pidgey with nothing but your bare fists just to get me to a Pokémon Center."

I turned away from my starter bashfully. "Yeah, let's not talk about that. I was stuck in that Pokémon Center for a week before they decided that my cuts and bruises were healed enough for me to continue training. I'd rather not live through that again."

"But the point is," Charizard insisted, "you can fight."

I shook my head. "No, the point is, I can't fight without painfully injuring myself. You guys can. You should go on ahead without me; I'm sure you'll have fun there."

"You're being unreasonable," Ivysaur interjected. "Are you trying to get rid of us?"

"What? No!" I exclaimed. "I just think that you would rather participate in the Smash Brothers battles, and I don't want to stop you."

"You don't like us, and you want to spend a few weeks alone," Ivysaur insisted. "Fine. Be that way. I'll see you when this is done." She turned around and started to walk up the path.

"Um… Master?" a small voice asked.

I looked down at the youngest member of my team, Squirtle. "What's the matter, Squirtle?"

"Maybe… maybe you should come with us."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What do you mean, Squirtle? I just explained that I don't fight."

To my surprise, the small water-type started to hug my leg. "But you've said before that we would always stick together. Maybe we could fight as a team, like those Ice Climbers we met earlier."

"No, but—"

"Actually, Master," Charizard said, "I think that's a great idea. You can keep your eye out for everyone else, and we can all participate in the battles."

"But I still don't want to fight," I complained. "I'm afraid that I'm going to be seriously injured." I sighed. "I know I'm being really hypocritical, not wanting to get hurt myself while encouraging you all to go, but—"

"No you're not," Squirtle said. "You're just being a human, and not a Pokémon. But you've said that we'll be together forever. So we can't split up now! Besides, if we're always a team, we can protect you from any significant harm."

I looked at him and then at Charizard. "Thank you, but I'm just going to be a burden to you two."

"No, you won't; you're the brains behind our entire battle strategy," Squirtle assured me. "We'll fight much better if you join us."

I raised my hands to protest again, but Charizard interrupted me with a loud, frustrated roar. "Stop wallowing in self-pity and excessive humility! No offense, Master, but your attitude disgusts me. If you really are so desperate for me to leave you, fine!" With that, he turned around and flew off towards the Registration Building.

I stared at him. Was I such a bad trainer that even Charizard, my very own starter, wanted to abandon me? The one I had raised since I had started my journey? My entire team was leaving me. I was incompetent, and self-defacing, and just an annoying person to be around.

Squirtle still stood at my feet.

"Go ahead, Squirtle," I signed to it dejectedly. "I'm sure you want to join the others."

"Master, come on!" Squirtle said. "You're coming with me. We're a team; no one better mess with us!"

I sighed, but said nothing.

"It's what you've said before: Together forever, no matter how long." Squirtle grabbed my leg. "Come on, Master, let's go catch up to Charizard and Ivysaur. We can sign up for the tournament together, as a four-person team."

"But Squirtle—"

The small turtle Pokémon surprised me by tackling me to the ground. "You're coming with me, Master. You keep saying that I'll have fun in there, but what about you? You're _not_ useless, you're _not_ a burden, and you're _not_ going to stop us from having fun. Get up, or I'll drag you there myself."

I stared in shock at the young Pokémon. Even Squirtle didn't like me. But as it started to reach for me to drag me along the road, I sighed and stood up.

"All right. You win."

The two of us approached the Registration Building. As we stepped inside, I turned to Squirtle. "Thank you," I said aloud. "I'll try to be a better trainer to you."

* * *

_Published May 26, 2013_


End file.
